May 12, 2014

Seth Kennedy and Alex Tillett-Saks, second-year students at IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law, have each been awarded 10-week summer fellowships from the Peggy Browning Fund.

Peggy Browning fellowships provide law students with diverse, challenging work and educational experiences in the area of workers' rights. The program is designed to increase the students' understanding of the current issues workers face and encourage students to consider careers in public interest labor law.

Seth Kennedy, a 2015 candidate for a J.D. with a certificate in labor and employment law, will work at Service Employees International Union (SEIU) in Washington, D.C. The union represents 2.1 million members working in the health care, public sector, and property service industries in the U.S., Canada and Puerto Rico.

Kennedy is an IIT Chicago-Kent Honors Scholar. He is a member of the Labor and Employment Law Society executive board, and is a student editor of the Employee Rights and Employment Policy Journal. Kennedy spent his first summer of law school as a case manager for the Center for Conflict Resolution's courtroom mediation program. He currently serves as a law clerk at Asher, Gittler, & D'Alba, a union-side labor law firm.

Kennedy completed his undergraduate education at Haverford College, where he earned a degree in political science. At Haverford, he spent two summers as a UNITE HERE intern.

Alex Tillett-Saks, a 2015 candidate for a J.D. with a certificate in labor and employment law, will spend his fellowship period in Washington, D.C., with the American Federation of Teachers. Formed in 1916, the union represents 1.5 million members, including teachers; paraprofessionals; higher education faculty and staff; nurses and other health care professionals; local, state and federal government employees; early childhood educators; and other school-related personnel.

Tillett-Saks earned his undergraduate degree in political science from Beloit College. After graduation, he organized casino workers in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Florida, Ohio and Nevada for UNITE HERE. Tillett-Saks has also run the Wisconsin Federation of Nurses and Health Professionals' statewide organizing department.

As an IIT Chicago-Kent student, Tillett-Saks serves as a student editor of the Employee Rights and Employment Policy Journal. Last year, as one of seven law students nationwide selected to participate in the AFL-CIO Law Student Union Summer Program, he worked with UNITE HERE on the contracts enforcement team. Tillett-Saks currently is a legal intern with the Chicago Newspaper Guild.

The Peggy Browning Fellowship program was established in memory of Margaret A. "Peggy" Browning, who was appointed by President Bill Clinton to the National Labor Relations Board in 1994. Ms. Browning, the first union-side labor attorney appointed to the NLRB, served until her death in 1997.

Founded in 1888, IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law is the law school of Illinois Institute of Technology, a private, Ph.D.-granting institution with programs in engineering, psychology, architecture, business, design and law. The Institute for Law and the Workplace at IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law is a national center for research, training, dialogue and reflection on the law that governs the workplace. IIT Chicago-Kent's Certificate Program in Labor and Employment Law is the centerpiece of the institute.